Mehwash Hussain | Updated: Apr 27, 2022 10:54 IST
The billionaire, Elon Musk buys Twitter in one of the world’s largest digital deals. Musk will pay around $44 billion for the social network, with shares valued at $54.20 per share. Musk revealed his takeover attempt on April 14, referring to it as his “best and last offer.”
According to Forbes magazine, Mr Musk is the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of $273.6 billion, owing primarily to his ownership of the electronic vehicle manufacturer Tesla, which he leads. He is also the CEO of the aerospace company SpaceX.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey weighed in on the deal late Monday, thanking both Musk and current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for “pulling the business out of an extremely difficult situation.”
That’s the question that everyone has been asking and wondering ever since the news of the deal broke out. The company’s purchase statement read both CEO Parag Agrawal and Chairman Bret Taylor, indicating that they will remain in their positions for the time being.
Musk, on the other hand, has often posted his discontent with Twitter’s board of management and how the company has been operating. Musk stated explicitly in his pitch to acquire Twitter, “I am not playing the back-and-forth game. I’ve skipped forward to the finish… If the offer fails, it is because I lack trust in management and do not feel I can effect the required transformation in the public market.” Analysts feel that a transition is on the way.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Mr Musk said in a statement announcing the acquisition.
Musk’s decision follows in the footsteps of other billionaires who have purchased ownership of major media outlets, such as Jeff Bezos’ 2013 purchase of the Washington Post.
The Tesla co-founder has already spoken about the platform’s ‘Edit Button,’ and he even staged a poll in which he intentionally misspelt yes and no. This was most likely done to emphasise the necessity for an edit button, considering the number of errors that users make when tweeting.
“I also would like to make Twitter better than ever by adding new features, making the algorithms open source to improve trust, beating spam bots, and verifying all people,” Musk said.
“Twitter has enormous potential, and I’m excited to work with the company and the user community to accomplish it,” he added.
Twitter was founded by 4 people namely Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass.
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and industrial engineer who founded the aerospace transport service company SpaceX.
The latest feature of Twitter is Twitter Communities where people can make a group to have a discussion on particular topics.
280 characters are the limit for one Tweet.
For 44$ billion Elon Musk made a deal to buy Twitter.